1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to knives and, more particularly, to a knife for cleaning and dressing a game animal. More specifically, the knife comprises a blade having a perimeter defined by a parabolic cutting section, a straight cutting edge, a blunt top edge, blade sleeves, pins and a handle. In practice, the straight cutting edge is used to make an incision and then, the parabolic cutting section unfolds outwardly from the handle and properly dresses the animal proceeding with the front rounded portion.
2. Description of Related Art
Various knives have been developed in the past for cleaning and dressing of game animals. To field dress a game animal, the animal is either hung or laid on its side or back so that a hunter has access to the underside of the animal. The hunter then tries to dress the entrails and skin from the animal to prevent spoilage of the flesh and the hide.
Typically, the prior art discloses knives having blades and hooks to perform the above mentioned functions, namely cleaning and dressing the animals. Each hook includes a cutting slot, the hook used to push through the fur and the hide which is to be cut, and the slot then drawn toward the body of the hunter, so that the hide is cut by a sharpened interior edge of the slot. However, when the hide is bunched up, the slot becomes jammed. Therefore, the hook blade becomes inconvenient to use because the hook portion's main function to guide and separate the layers of hide and meat is thwarted. Furthermore, when these hook blades become dulled, the hook design is almost impossible to sharpen and thus ineffective to use.
Accordingly, a need will be seen for a knife that is useful and practical at any time and for any purpose in the field. In addition, there is a need for a device as described above that is easily and economically produced.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,778 issued to Seber et al. on Nov. 1, 1994 describes a knife with a cutting hook. The device includes a handle, a blade having a blade back, and a hook integral with the blade. This device does not provide an all-purpose function, since the hook can be jammed and can be inconvenient to use for cutting in situations other than dressing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,432 issued to Montgomery on Aug. 26, 1986 describes a hunting knife for field dressing an animal. The device includes a hunting knife blade and a retractable gut hook. This device does not provide a convenient means to field dress an animal because of the multiple blades.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,854 issued to Austin on Aug. 18, 1981 describes a hunter's knife. The device includes a blade portion which includes a reversely facing hook-shaped portion with a sharpened arcuate inner edge portion formed on one side. The other side is a continuous blade. Again, the hook-shaped portion can become jammed when the hide layer of an animal bunches together.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,751 issued to Egbert on Apr. 22, 1980 describes a skinning knife. The device includes a notched cutting edge and an enlargement. This device also suffers from the disadvantage that it is inconvenient to use when the slot is jammed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,952 issued to Strovas on May 20, 1975 describes a hide splitting and gutting device. The device includes a rod-like shaft having an arcuate head and a slot. This device does not provide an adequate separation means of the hide and the meat of the game animal.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,033 issued to Regan on Feb. 12, 1974 describes a skinning knife. The device includes a blade and a tip blade member. This device does not provide precision in separating the hide from the meat.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,268 issued to Cassell on Sep. 20, 1971 describes hunting knife. The device includes a notch having a blunt portion, a sharp under edge, a sharp round corner and a blunt upper edge, and a blade. The sharp round corner can be jammed while separating the hide from the flesh of an animal. Thereby, the device does not provide an effective means to separate the layers of the animal.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,363,315 issued to Anderson on Jan. 16, 1968 describes a hunting knife. The device includes a handle and two blades. Again, this device does not provide an effective way to separate the hide from the meat, because the two blades can be cumbersome.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,241,236 issued to Capps on Mar. 22, 1966 describes a knife having a plurality of blade portions and guide portions. The device may result in improperly field dressing the animals when the hide bunches up in the blade portions and the guide portions, thereby making the device less effective.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,843,223 issued to Hasseler on Feb. 2, 1932 describes a knife having a blade included a hook section. Again, the device suffers from the disadvantages described above.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 320,544 issued to Thompson on Oct. 8, 1991 describes a utility knife having a blade with different radii along the body the blade. The device does not effectively serve a means for cleaning and dressing game animals.
English abstracts of two foreign patents also describe devices which do not provide an effective means to clean and dress the game animals. The abstracts refer to Patent Number DT 2,741,692, issued to Ober on Mar. 22, 1979, which describes a knife having a guard preventing the blade from being used as a weapon while maintaining its ability to cut seat belts, and German Patent Number 1,225,073 issued to Sohn on Sep. 15, 1966, which describes a hunting knife having a bellied-out free blade portion and a top hook portion.
None of the above noted inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.